LIVERPOOL, England (WKRC) – Multiple criminals were arrested for posing as maintenance workers and digging up roads to redirect power to a cannabis farm at the request of gangsters.

Eight men were sentenced for a plot they carried out between November of 2020 and February of 2024 in which they posed as utility workers complete with vans, barriers, and signs, even going as far as to close roads, per BBC.

The men connected the power lines to abandoned buildings which they later filled with thousands of cannabis plants, the outlet said. They would then repave the roads, but showed “little to no regard to safety,” a judge said during the sentencing.

Authorities reportedly found a photo on one of the suspects’ phones that showed one of the men with severe burns due to an explosion that occurred while on the job.

Police first learned of the conspiracy when residents living near an abandoned department store reported suspicious activity, per the outlet. When police entered the building they found over 1,000 plants growing in temperature-controlled rooms powered by electricity that was stolen by the group. Police got their first break when they found a van belonging to the illegitimate company on security cameras.

Another stroke of luck arrived when police realized one of their top suspects was already in prison, and they had access to his phone. Upon examining it, police reportedly found a WhatsApp group chat in which the suspects would talk about new opportunities to make money, allowing police to pinpoint a lot of people involved.

The group allegedly worked with a middleman with direct ties to Albanian gangsters that were running the cannabis farms.

All eight suspects were sentenced for encouraging or assisting the production of cannabis and conspiracy to abstract electricity.